Sharon Apple
is a virtual idol and one of the antagonists of the Macross Plus OVA and its theatrical adaptation, Macross Plus Movie Edition. She also appeared in the short-lived manga adaptation, Macross Plus: TAC Name. She is an artificially created idol singer whose voice and thoughts are provided by Myung Fang Lone. Appearance Sharon Apple manifests herself in multiple holographic forms. One iteration has her as a short orange-haired girl that appears curious and youthful. During concerts, she changes appearance several times, sometimes as mystical creatures such as mermaids, and angels, others as a cute girl be seen doing mundane things and acting coquettishly. Another version has her looking more mature and donning long flaming red hair which can sometimes be projected as purple or even green. Her physical "Virturoid" form, known as "DECU6000", and developed and programmed by Venus Sound Factory, is a black CPU-like box with a large red eye, similar to HAL-9000 in 2001 A Space Odyssey. This form can move about independently, dressed from the bottom with a massive pink robe. To fully express this character of a virtual idol, Yoko Kanno and fellow composer CMJK created a fantastic, futuristic sound that combined techno, jazz vocals, religious music, and so on. In terms of imagery, they used cutting-edge CG (at the time) to make her concerts seem intentionally "trippy" and hallucinatory. History Sharon Apple was the chart-topper in the planet Eden as the first (and only) virtual idol in existence. Her songs can touch the emotions of anyone through the use of hypnotics and hallucinogenic imagery. Unbeknownst to the public, Sharon's AI is incomplete. The only way she can actually project and express emotions is while under the control of Myung Fang Lone. When the lead scientist Marge Gueldoa installs an untested and illegal Bio-neural Chip that makes her a sentient (and in turn, uncontrollable) being, she tries to take over Macross City on Earth. She kidnaps her "voice", Myung Fang Lone, and becomes completely deluded into thinking she is in love with test pilot Isamu Alva Dyson. It's Isamu and Guld Goa Bowman to stop her as she commands a powerful experimental drone known as the X-9 Ghost. Post-Sharon Apple incident Following the events of ''Plus, U.N. Spacy deemed the use of artificial intelligence as a major problem and halted all production and use of unmanned fighters (X-9 Ghost). As a result, no ghost drones appear in Macross 7, which is set five years after the incident. In the game Macross VF-X2, set ten years later, the truth of the Sharon Apple incident is buried by high-ranking officials. It is as a confidential on a need-to-know basis. Thus, the use of ghost drones wasn't formalized until well into the 2050s, where it finally made its debut in 2059, during the events of Macross Frontier. The "disc" that contained Sharon's music would not be released following her rampage on Earth, but on December 1, 2045 , five years later, a remake of the single "SANTI-U" was released to the public.CD Album "Macross 7 MUSIC SELECTION FROM GALAXY NETWORK CHART" booklet, Victor Entertainment, 1995, 8 pages.The date of the chart described in the booklet which is "1/21 2046", and the release date of Fire Bomber 's single "PLANET DANCE" is "12/1 2045", The release date in the chronology announced after the end of Macross 7 is April 2045. In Macross 7, there are multiple scenes where Sharon songs are played in the background, although Sharon herself is never mentioned, as well as the incident involving her takeover on Earth. Discography Relationships ;Myung Fang Lone :Sharon's ostensible manager, but actually her controller. After she becomes an independent, sentient being, she sets out to destroy her, Guld and Isamu. ;Isamu Alva Dyson :Once Sharon breaks free of her programming, she becomes obsessed with Isamu, to the point of seizing control of the original SDF-1 Macross in an attempt to control him. Gallery MyungSpread.jpg|A magazine spread featuring Sharon Apple in her many forms, and a tortured Myung Fang Lone. SharonApple.jpg|Sharon Apple as seen in the manga adaptation Macross Plus: TAC Name. SharonForms.jpg|Sharon's many virtual manifestations. SharonAlbum.jpg|Sharon Apple concert album cover. MacrossPlusBlu10.jpg|INFORMATION HIGH event on Uta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture. MacrossPlusBlu13.jpg|Uta Macross' INFORMATION HIGH stage. SharonDelta.jpg|Sharon Apple as seen in a flashback on Macross Δ. SharonDelta2.jpg|Another cameo appearance by Sharon on Macross Δ. SharonConcert1.gif|Sharon Apple in concert. SharonConcert.gif|Another scene of Sharon's concert. Notes & Trivia *Though the incident in Eden destroyed her image in the public eye, Sharon's songs are occasionally played on the radio in subsequent titles of the franchise. In fact, the intro announcement in Sheryl Nome's concert heard in the Macross Frontier Movie: The False Songstress still recognized her as one of the major pillars of the music industry alongside Lynn Minmay and Fire Bomber. *Sharon becomes selectable as a supporting character in Macross Δ Scramble after purchasing DLC Pack 2. She is one of the few singer-supports that don't restore HP, but her unique song effect is the increase in player attack power plus all enemies losing the ability to block. **She has two selectable songs in-game: "Information Overload" & "Wanna Be An Angel". The former cannot be used as mission BGM, however. **Sharon summons Lil Drakens instead of X-9 Ghosts to assist Isamu and Guld in the DLC Pack 2 Bonus Mission where she is featured in the same game. *While not a playable Diva in the Uta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture rhythm game as of yet, if the user equips either the YF-19 or YF-21 before performing "INFORMATION HIGH", at certain points during the Live, she will take the place of the Center Diva. *Basara Nekki from Macross 7 listens to "Idol Talk" during episode 21 as he eats a hotdog sandwich for lunch, and episode 31 when they're comparing Basara to Lynn Minmay. *"SANTI-U" plays in the background during the dramatization of how Ray met Basara in Macross 7: Encore. *"Idol Talk" plays during episode one of Macross Dynamite 7 when Elma takes Basara to a Zolan town to replace his guitar string. *"The Borderline" plays as Elma reads the mural about the Vahla Ena in Macross Dynamite 7. References External Links *Macross Plus Wiki Category:Macross Plus Category:Macross Plus Characters Category:Idols Category:Singers Category:Plus Category:Female Category:Macross Δ Characters